Would it work… if Spain sang in English?

Hey everyone and welcome back to the ‘Would It Work’ series! Leading on from the UK possibly going “Eastern”, today’s article concerns Spain and their continual trick of only singing in Spanish. Okay, the language can work for some songs such as ‘Quedaté Conmigo’ or ‘La, La, La’, but could Spain get a better result if they sent a song in English in the future?

More than just a few words of English please Spain!

Spain is known for sending songs to Eurovision in its native tongue, but there are those (and let me emphasise this) *rare* occasions where the odd word of English is dropped into the performance. Take ESDM for example; even though the entire song was in Spanish, they at least finished the song with the English translation of “Contigo hasta el final”: ‘With you until the end’. Now, we appreciate that they take the time to speak some English in their dying moments on stage, but I’d personally enjoy it if Spain sent a song that had a fair bit of English in it. That’s why when Soraya was sent to Eurovision with a bilingual song, I was actually ecstatic (oh the joys of youth!) and I was expecting great things of her, but we know how well she did, don’t we?

Well yes, she came second last. I was heartbroken. But the performance was, I believe, what let the Spanish down. The song was fine; in fact, in the series made in the run-up to the Contest, Andreas Schacht, said that:

The song uses the Eurovision formula and has a very eye-catching performance with lots of dancers […] it’s a very strong song.

So the man who edited eurovision.tv was for the song, but it seems that Europe didn’t like it. Like I said just above, the performance was probably what let her down. It was a pretty cheesy one and her vocals weren’t exactly the best on the night. So as much as were praising it, she flopped horribly and now she’s a part of this article. But moving onto the main point of this article, would it work if Spain sent something in English? Well, ask this woman, Ana Criado. She’s half-Spanish, but most of her discography is in English.

This song is something that Spain hasn’t tried properly yet; a really modern song and if she sings the song just as good as she does in the music video, then something like this or another song released by her could really work to Spain’s advantage. Sending something modern in English is a tried-and-tested way of getting a good position and if the song is popular, it’ll get up there in the top 10, but as James explained before, modern songs can be cursed when it comes to Eurovision, so Spain would need to tread carefully if something like ‘The Quest of A Dream’ was picked by RTVE. But singing in English helps a country get votes because if you have a good song and it’s in English, those countries such as the UK and Ireland (and that whole general area where they speak English) will vote for you. So Spain would be in a pretty good position if something along the lines of Ana Criado was sent… or is that just me?

Your views:

Do you think it would work if Spain tried singing in English?

Would an English song for Spain work for them?

Seth Wezendonk from the Netherlands: No, because the Spanish language sounds much better. It has something magical!

Kyösti Rönkkö from Finland: Spanish definitely!

Michael Romano from Australia: Do we really want one of the few countries that sings in its national language to start singing in English? It didn’t exactly help Soraya, she came second last. I think that if they want to do well they can start by changing the head of delegation, he seems to be a major problem for Spain.

Costas Pom from Germany: How about a good Latin pop song in Spanish? So obvious and yet Spain is trying everything else but that the last years.

From what I’ve collected from the fans, singing in English wouldn’t go do well. Sending a “good Latin pop song in Spanish”, according to Costas, would be the obvious choice. It would be a good way to go for Spain as it hasn’t been done in a long time. Michael thinks that the Head of Delegation is what’s holding them back. I don’t know whether he really is a major problem, but I’m not going to argue with the fans opinions, I’m more interested into what you think! Do you think sending a song in English would be the best choice for Spain or should they just stick with singing in Spanish? Feel free to let us know what you think by commenting below!